This year’s Poster, Poetry, and Prose contest sponsored by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is looking for fifth and sixth graders to compete. This year’s theme is “Algae: The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly; How can you keep your pond healthy.” This theme focuses on how algae affect water, how to prevent pollution, and how to maintain healthy water ecosystems. Each school can enter up to eight works including posters and written documents. All entries must be postmarked and sent in by February 3rd of 2020. Judges will select the finalists, while those entries will be judged by a completely different set of judges to determine the top 12 winners. All finalists including families and teachers will be invited to an awards ceremony on April 18th at the Old State Capital site in Springfield. The participants will then be invited to attend Springfield’s Earth Awareness Fair.  All exhibits will be on display in the atrium of the Illinois EPA’s Headquarters in Springfield in April and May with the best ones being featured on Illinois’ EPA website. For more information on this visit Illinois’ EPA website at www.2.illinois.gov/epa/ or by emailing Kristi Morris, environmental education coordinator at kristi.morris@illinois.gov or contacting her at 217-558-7198.